Julie Lofton  
Executive Producer / Film Director / Writer
Self-Employed
Encino, California

As filmmaker and TV producer, Julie won a Genesis Award for her film "Best Friend Forgotten" hosted by David Duchovny and produced by her own production company. Shortly after receiving the award, she began developing Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE).

How long have you been working in your current career? What did you do before?
I have been working in the entertainment industry since I was a kid. Before that I was most likely putting on a skit for my parents and their friends.

Why did you decide to pursue this career?
I think you know you have this creative spark inside you that is yearning to get out and you do whatever means necessary to express that creative urge within yourself. For me what I wanted to express creatively was issues on animals.

What traits would you say make your job “humane”?  
I don’t work directly with animals, unless the story-line includes animals and in that case I am only around them on set. The humane aspect comes from the script itself. The goal is to increase the knowledge of the humane treatment of animals from everyone who watches the film or television show.

What kind of education and training did you get before you started your first professional job?
The best training and education you can get is by just “doing it”. The true way of learning is to make the mistakes yourself and you can come up with the methods that work best for you.

How did you find your first job in your profession?
My first job did not mix animals and the entertainment industry. I had to learn about producing, writing, and directing separately from educating myself on animal issues. The first time I actually did get to mix the two was when I did it myself. This is the kind of job that you need to self-motivate.  I promise you won't find this job in the want-ad section.

What are your duties in your current position?
The duties are that of any regular producer, writer, or director, except that you also have to make sure to learn everything you can about the issue you are writing or producing about. Getting the issue right is REALLY important especially when hundreds or thousands or millions of people will be seeing it.

What do you like most about your job?
I truly believe that the entertainment industry and the media itself has the power to effect social change. People have to know that a problem exists for animals before anyone is going to act on creating a more humane world. I feel that in my job I get to contribute to this.

What do you like least about your job?
You know they say ignorance is bliss. I have found that the more I find out and the more people tell me about the problems animals face the more sad I get. So, the thing I like least ironically is the thing that keeps me going.

What’s a typical workday like for you?
There is no “typical” workday in this field of work. Everyday is different. However, the most important part is to keep ideas flowing. Always, coming up with new and different thoughts of scripts that can incorporate in an entertaining way animal issues.

What types of training or experiences do you need to keep up-to-date in your field?
Basically, this comes down to one thing the Hollywood schmoozing. Make sure to know who the movers and shaker are at all time. These people consist of who is in charge of the working writers, producers, directors, studio/network executives, and distributors. Without these people your work will never get seen.

What keeps you motivated to keep doing your work? 
I’d like to say the accolades like winning the Genesis Award. But, really it comes down to knowing that I am being pro-active about making a difference in the world. It would eat me up inside to know I was sitting idlely by when I could be doing so much more.

What personal traits do you think someone needs to be successful in your field?
To be in this field you will need to be very outgoing, tenacious, a go-getter, take rejection well, creative, and most importantly believe in yourself.

What advice would you give to a college student or other young person considering entering your field?  What advice would you give to someone who’s changing fields and is interested in a career in your profession?
My advice would be to stay away from being too advocacy. Don’t spend your time making PSA’s. No one will see them. Focus on getting the biggest audience you can. If your idea is too one sided it will never air nationally or internationally. Take your feelings out of it and take a journalistic approach to documentaries and an entertaining approach to fictional stories. Remember, if you lose your audience then there is no one left to educate.

Anything else you’d like to add about your work or about careers helping animals?
You only have one life to live, and if your passion is in helping animals in any way, then go for it.

June 2005